The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop engine cleaner

What do you all think about those all purpose engine cleaners that are supposed to clean out gunk and other stuff? do they work? are they safe on all engines? (i have a 250 in my truck). i bought a quart of the NAPA brand cleaner and thought i'd ask for opinions here first before trying it.

When I was in high school, I worked at a service station (not gas station) that used to do "engine flushes." That was idling and engine with 50% kerosine and 50% cheap bulk oil for a bit. Of course, it drained out black but I always had my doubts on what it did to an engine. Is that the kind of flush you're meaning?

Is this about external engine cleaners or internal engine cleaners or both?

Wally, I was taught the same technique over 30 years ago but I don't know if it was good or bad for the engines.

onetongmc, if you are talkng about the NAPA external engine cleaner, it is as good as any other (but at NAPAs here it is more expensive than Gunk).

Tim

Be VERY careful not to let it get on the original paint if you have some. It will fade out and attack the original paints (or new lacquer if you have it).

I had some overspray hit my firewall and it caused paint damage on the original paint part of the firewall. The new urethanes resist it no problem but the original enamals and lacquers will not.

oops! i should have made it clearer. i was talking about the internal engine cleaner, sorry. has anyone tried this stuff? it's probably similar to what Wally was saying. i don't know what's in the stuff though, i haven't looked at the "ingredients" yet.

I use a half quart of ATF with each oil change.It cleans out crud slowly and helps keep it out

Guinea pig reporting to duty....

In the past seven years, I have used various engine restorers and flushes available in TX and CA on my daily driver.
Including Prolong and some other infomercial scams.
I tried them all on my 235, years before I even was aware what a special engine it actually is.

Here is my lowdown:

I guess I was always lucky, cos since the day, I bought my stovebolt and I first took the oil pan off to inspect what was making it run, I never found much build up to begin with.
The little I found was easily wiped off with a rag and any of the common engine degreasers.
Since I didn't know the history of my engine, I still applied all the above mentioned 'cleaners, restorers and improvers'.

NONE OF THEM EVER MADE A SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCE IN ACTUAL PERFORMANCE OR CLEANING OUT ANY HIDDEN BUILD UP!!

I change my oil three times a year and never have any problems, let alone build up.
I even use the old bypass filter and that one also hardly gets dirty.

These engines seem to be very happy once all passages and corners are cleaned by hand or with various chemicals.
I don't believe any of them will hurt them.

All they seem to need is using the same grade oil between changes and actually change it every few thousand miles.

I'm not an expert, just using common sense and what I can see and touch and smell....

You can easily clean out a gunked up engine by merely doing regular _hot_ oil & filter changes ,
every old nail I buy seems to come full of sludge , I just do 500 mile oil changes untill it's shiny clean inside .
I'd be leerly of driving with anything other than a cupful of ATF in the oil though .

If you use synthetic oil , all the crud will be loose & swirling about in 50 miles or so .

Anybody have good ideas for a home cleaning of a stripped-down engine block? It will probably be cleaned at the shop when it comes time for the machine work, but I'd like to give it a once-over to look for major problems myself. It has been sitting for a long time, and there is quite a bit of crud in the engine and head water jackets. Doesn't look to be anything serious, just dirt and stuff.